by Sonya Jesus
I’m nearly immobile and completely useless. My eyes lift to the viewing room, but Breaker is no longer there. Scar must have gotten him out without The Butcher noticing.
“Kelsie,” I mumble out, intending to scream, my throat burning from the force. Coughing hurts my chest, and the pain in my mouth is excruciating. Whatever she dosed me with is wearing off and keeping my panic at bay.
The door swings open.
Breaker. My whole body sighs, and tension oozes out of me. The time it takes for him to reach us lasts an eternity, and that’s when I hear it.
Not Breaker.
A shot lands on The Butcher’s abdomen, plopping him to the floor instantly. Kelsie stumbles to her feet as the Beneventi with the warm eyes steps into the room, smoking gun in hand. Stone rushes for Kelsie, stabilizing her. Rom and Hayden enter behind him, holding up Breaker as he tries to walk in.
Breaker’s face contorts with pain and relief when his eyes land on mine.
“I got her, Boss,” Rom says softly as he rushes for me.
“Lyla,” Breaker pumps out before a second shot pierces the air and lands on Breaker.
I scream, and everyone stares in the direction of the sound.
Kelsie holds the gun that used to be in Stone’s possession in her hands, still aiming at Breaker, who had fallen on his knee.
“You missed, Little Sister,” he says, a bit too proudly. The cockiness still there despite the broken ego. “I deserved that. I’m sorry.” He glances at me before he finishes, “I’m sorry for everything. Kelsie, when you told me you were leaving and refused to honor our agreement, I lost it. I told Franco to rough you up a little, but…” He breathes heavily as he clutches his bleeding leg. “I would’ve saved you.”
“And she would owe you?” Stone spits out. “When are you going to stop believing you can do everything on your own, Breaker?”
His eyes land on me tenderly. He brings both hands together, as if in prayer and says, “You all taught me that today.”
“That’s not something I expected out of your mouth,” Stone grumbles, unsure of what to do with the humble phrase. Months ago, I had seen a glimpse of this Breaker when he told me about his family. Mixed with all the hate, I heard the love as he revealed his tortured memories. His mother nearly abandoned him, his real father didn’t love him enough to tell the truth, and the man he hated now was the one person he thought he loved. But he didn’t realize that deep down, he loved his brother for having the balls to walk away, and he loved Kelsie for being strong enough to stay.
Breaker replies, “I never expected to need all of you, and here we are.” His tone picks up a tick of sarcasm. “One big happy family.” He glances at the body on the floor.
Another bullet sound emanates from Kelsie’s direction.
“What the fuck, babe?” Hayden growls, as he massages his ears.
Stone winces and bobs his head in surprise. “Shot him in the dick. If he were breathing, that would really hurt.”
“Let’s get out of here,” Rom pipes in. His arm is around my waist, and he’s helping me toward Breaker.
Hayden helps Breaker up, to Kelsie’s surprise. “Can you stand?”
“Thank you,” he says and nods to answer him. “For me and for helping me try to get 327 to safety.”
He had sent Hayden to help me.
“Sorry, man. As soon as you texted me and I left the frat house, they followed me off campus and forced me to pull over. They took my phone, knocked me out, and then, I ended up here.”
“You asked him for help?” Stone nudges Kelsie in the shoulder, and she glares at him with hard eyes. “Progress.”
She holds her blink for a long time, and both the brothers laugh.
Romolo asks my question for me, “What’s so funny?”
“Nothing,” Stone answers and grabs the pointed-at-Breaker gun, forcing Kelsie’s hand down before taking the weapon from her.
“You made your bones,” Breaker says, as Hayden rips his own T-shirt and wraps it around Breaker’s leg tightly to stop the bleeding.
“Guess, I did.”
“It just grazed you,” she growls as she limps toward Hayden. “But mark my words, Breaker Beneventi, the next time, it will be a bullet through the skull. I never fucking miss.”
“Is that your way of saying I’m forgiven?”
“No, that’s my way of apologizing to—” She cuts herself off and smiles. “Haven.”
My real name. Haven Emerson. “How did you know?”
“I searched the whole room. I read the book with all the messages and found yours.”
Scar comes in, with a man behind him, and lowers his head to Breaker. “Boss, the coast is clear. All the guys loyal to Franco are disposed of. You should get out of here and get some rest. I’ll take care of everything.”
“Why?” Breaker asks skeptically. “What’s in betraying Franco for you?”
“Money,” he replies. “Power and position. You need someone to trust at The Farm, and I can be that person.”
Breaker nods in agreement. “The job is yours. Thank you for your help.”
28
Beneventi Fortress
Breaker
Forty-eight hours later, all the phones had been disposed of and replaced with new clean ones, the house searched for bugs and scrubbed clean. Addie’s blood no longer taints my room, and the couch has been moved, revealing two more safes with enough money to get us through for a while. The money Magdalena took is as good as gone. I suspect Scar has kept it. I’m still unsure of his involvement with Magdalena and Franco, but he’s not going to get away with it that easily. With Magdalena and Franco gone, I plan on finding out everything, especially how Scar plays into all of this.
Hayden, who I’ve officially dubbed as Doc, surprised me with his EMT skills and patched Kelsie and me up, but we took Haven Emerson to the ER as a family. We used her new identity, Liana Corsa, at her insistence. She doesn’t want to use the name Haven, or Mercy, or Lyla, but it’s hard not to call her 327. Luckily for me, she doesn’t seem to care. I guess growing up as an identity thief, makes identity a lot less important.
Asking why she grew up stealing identities is even harder. Her secrets are still only hers to keep. Instead of having Rom dig them up, I’m going to wait until she tells me. Then I’ll kill whoever she’s running from.
The only thing that matters now is that our baby is fine. Despite everything she went through, my kid is holding strong and already helping the Beneventi line. I glance around the kitchen at the five people who should’ve abandoned me: Stone, Kelsie, 327, Hayden, and Romolo. I suspect the baby is the only reason everyone is staying, and I’m okay with that.
Hayden and Kelsie have taken my mom’s old room on the west wing, next to Costa’s old room. Stone stayed in his, and Rom’s in one of the guest rooms. Though I hope she stays with me, 327 can stay in any room she wants, as long as it’s in the Beneventi Fortress. On our way back from the hospital, she insisted on returning to the center and staying there.
I shot that shit down quick. I’m trying to be more understanding, not stupid. Yes, she needed to go and tie up loose ends, but she wasn’t going alone. Ever again. The Mafia Whore was working for the cartel, and I’m not about to let my woman and child walk in there without protection. Granted, walking in there with her will raise suspicion, so I’m kind of dependent on the people in this house.
Hayden is useless when it comes to body guarding. He’s not a fighter, but he could be with a little training. Things between Kelsie and I are not okay, and I’m pretty sure they won’t be for a really long time. Stone has barely said a word to me since he shot Franco, which makes me miss my brother’s constant nagging. I’m going to give him time. Making your bones changes a man, and I get the feeling his change won’t be easy.
I’m so used to doing everything that delegating is going to be a challenge.
Our first official meeting in the Beneventi Fortress is about precaution. Franco killed Magdalena, hacked
her up into pieces, and stuffed her in a bucket. My next step is to call and talk to her father.
Frank Cabrali is an ambitious man who helped Costa take out the Fontanas in order to secure his place in the family. His daughter was his claim to power, and because of me—she’s dead. There’s no way I can tell him I was captured; it will make me look weak. Divulging the truth about Franco will make it seem like I couldn’t control my people. If the Cabralis turn against me, old rules apply.
An eye for an eye runs rampant in the mob world, and I if I get blamed for his daughter’s death, mine may never get to breathe.
I glance over at the mother of my child, who is pensively staring at Kelsie. The ambience is awkward as fuck, but we are all here for one specific reason.
I voice that reason, “The Cabralis are not going to be happy.”
“That your own man killed your fiancée? No, I’d say they’ll be pretty pissed,” Stone blurts out.
327 narrows her eyes in my direction, demanding an explanation. I forgot 327 had not been privy to the secrets of my arranged marriage.
“The marriage is off, obviously,” I assuage her and glare at Kelsie. “In order to save Kelsie from The Commission for the unsanctioned Beneventi Caccia, I agreed to marry Magdalena and earn the favor of The Commission.”
Kelsie’s lips part in shock, the slightest glimmer of concern flutters through her voice. “So, what does her death mean?”
“I have no fucking clue, but you took out the guy who killed her. That’s got to give us leverage.”
“And Magdalena conspired against you,” Romolo adds.
“I don’t know. Cabrali’s ambitious. What if he and Luca knew, and we just got played?”
“No,” Stone adds. “Luca’s not an asshole like us.”
Us. I don’t have time to ponder on how my brother finally realized who he was. My eyes snap to my brother. “Since when are you cozy with the Cabrali twin?”
Stone filters me out and dismissively states, “Luca’s got other things going on. Things, not even his sister trumps.”
“That changes when he finds out she’s dead.” Kelsie stands up and heads for the kitchen door, paranoia getting the best of her. “We need a plan.”
“I agree, and we all need to get our story straight.”
“Grind her, send her to the mill, and feed her to Foxy.” Stone surprises all of us, especially Kelsie and Hayden. Both of them stare at him with disappointing glares while I’ve never been prouder.
Romolo eases the intensity. “I still can’t believe Franco killed her.”
I take the focus off Stone. “Neither can I. She took the money, and before they knocked me out, I saw her walking in to the office in those red pumps, and—”
“Oh, my God.” 327’s fingers flutter to her lips, and one hand drops to her stomach protectively.
“What?” I ask as Stone rushes to her side.
“Red pumps? With everything, I completely forgot. I don’t know how I’m just remembering this…” The look of horror on her face as she turns to Kelsie puts me on high alert. “Ivy. Ivy was the one who showed up to take me when Breaker dropped me off. She disappeared though. She was wearing red heels.”
“The girl from the center?” Kelsie asks as we share a look. “I don’t think we ever met.”
“That’s because she was never there when you were.”
Addie had been working for La Expansion, and Magdalena had recently entered into business with them. She mentioned a pregnant woman being picked up, and she didn’t seem concerned about the DNA part of it. “Did she know you were pregnant?”
“Yes,” Haven says softly. “She was there when I thought I saw Franco in my dream and lost one of the babies.”
He was probably there.
“She knew it was twins. She stayed with me and bought me scented candles, but she also wasn’t there when Kelsie was.”
“Bring up her social media page,” I ask Hayden.
Hayden pulls up a public photo and holds it up for Haven. “Did she look like this?”
“Her hair was different and her makeup, but yeah…that’s Ivy Levine. Does she have a Southern accent?”
I growl out, “No.”
“Sometimes it faltered. I remember thinking it was odd.”
“She knew about you all along?” Stone harrumphs and sits back down. “That’s why she wanted to move up the wedding?”
“She was testing me.” The thought lingers, irking me. She had been close to 327, had her within her grasp, why not kill her? Why wait and trust Franco?
“So, Magdalena was Ivy?” Hayden asks, flabbergasted with the information. No one else in the room seems surprised.
“She’s crazy enough to do it,” Kelsie replies. “Maybe to scope out Addie? Or Franco told her about 327?”
“She didn’t seem crazy,” Haven adds sweetly. “And Addie didn’t seem to know her from anywhere.”
The doorbell rings, disturbing our discussion. Romolo checks the front door camera from his tablet and announces, “It’s Scar, Boss.”
He’s the only one who knows what really happened between Franco and Magdalena. As soon as he walks through the door, I’m on him, prying him for answers. “What happened between the time you knocked me out in the office and the time you tied me up in the viewing room?”
“Boss, I had to go along with it. Franco and Magdalena were calling the shots, and if I didn’t help, there was no way I’d be able to get to you.”
“I don’t care about that,” I shout. Leaving out the ‘for now.’ “Why did Franco kill Magdalena?”
“He didn’t. They argued a lot because she didn’t want you to be killed, so they made a bet to see how you’d react to her being chopped up in a bucket.”
“Fine, how did she end up chopped into pieces in a bucket?” My mind flutters back to the moment, but I didn’t react, at least not like a man who lost his fiancée.
I only cared about 327 and my kid. Shit.
He doesn’t even have to say it. I already know. “The woman in the bucket?”
“Wasn’t Magdalena, Boss.”
Well, shit.
Click here for more Benventis? Kelsie’s Story
Also by Sonya Jesus
Beneventi Series
Want more of the Beneventis?
Beneventi Family, Book 0.5
Stand Alone Prequel
Kelsie and Hayden’s Story
Beneventi Family, Book 2
Available Spring 2020
Knights Series
New Adult Romantic Thriller, Complete Bestselling Series.
Knights, Book 1
Knights, Book 2
Knights, Book 3
Knights, Book 4
Soccer God Series
Westbrook University, New Adult Thrillers,
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About the Author
Sonya’s a nerd—a cool nerd—who loves science, books, make-up and unicorns. She even has unicorn slippers and unicorn plushes adorn her office. It’s not an obsession (or so she says), it’s simply an ode to her imaginative side. Storytelling has been her passion since her youth, but her family believes it's more than that.
Though she's fun-loving, complex-minded, and heart-driven, her philosophy on life is quite simple: Shit happens. Keep going.
When asked to elaborate, she said, "Believing in yourself is probably one of the hardest things to do, but look in the mirror. You're still standing. That's strength. Don't underestimate yourself."
Sonya also believes in fairytales and in the beautiful things a mind can conjure. She’s a firm believer in empowering the crazy fict
ional ideas, putting them down on paper, and letting them flourish into a story.